GEOLOGY AND COAL RESOURCES OF THE MINOT REGION … · 2011. 6. 30. · GEOLOGY AND COAL RESOURCES...

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OP THE INTERIOR Harold L. Ickes, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. C. Mendenhall, Director

Bulletin 906-B

GEOLOGY AND COAL RESOURCESOF THE MINOT REGION

NORTH DAKOTA

BY

DAVID A. ANDREWS

Contributions to economic geology, 1938-39

(Pages 43-84)

UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 1939

IFor sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. - - - - Price 50 cents

CONTENTS

PageAbstract. ____________._____.__________--_.___--____-_-----______._ 43Introduction- _ _____.___---_______-----____.---- ..^................ 44

Location and extent of region_____-__-___-_---_---_-----_-----__ 44Field work________________.__-__--_____---_---_-----_---_-__ 46Previous investigations._________-_-_____--_--_.____----___-_.._ 46Acknowledgments. __.__________-_________-__________--__....__ 48

Geography__ _._.___.__._...______-_-__.__----._-.__-.---_-__.-__ 48Surface features._____-_________-_---__------_-_---_-----___--. 48Drainage and water supply.___ ______-._------_-__------__--._- 51Climate and vegetation______-______-_---_--__--------__------ 51Population________-_________-__-_-___---_-----_--_--_-_-_-__ 53Accessibility. ______-_-__-____--_----_-__--------_------------- 53

Stratigraphy.______-__.-_-____.____-_---_-__----______----_-___._. 54General features..._-_____-.__-__--_-_.. ...............^....... 54Rocks not exposed-.____-_-____------__.--------.-----------_-. 54

Pre-Lance formations. ..................................... 54Lance formation--.....-..--.-.--.-.---------.---------.-.- 56

Rocks exposed________-__..__---___-___-_---------_.--__-_____ 57Tertiary system._____-___.-_________--_-----.----------___ 57

Eocene series _._____-_--__-__-_----------------_-_--- 57Fort Union formation..____________________________ 57

Quaternary system__-_______-_-____---_------------.-.-- 58Pleistocene series______--_---___-----__--_.-------.-.-- 58Recent series_.______-.__-_____-_-----__-_-.--_-_____ 59

Structure. -___-_______--_---_____.----___-_-----_----_------_-.___ 60Geomorphology _ _________-_________----_____----------_---_-----__ 61Coal beds__ .................................................^.. 67

Burlington bed-_....---_._..____-____-_--------___----_-_-____ 68Local bed about 75 feet above Burlington bed.--___.___-_-_._._.__ 69Local bed 23 feet below Wolf Creek bed___-_-------_.___...._____ 69Wolf Creek bed-....... .---- ----.-- 70Coteau bed_______________________-__----_---__,___--_________ 71Garrison Creek bed__--___-____----__--------_--___----________ 72Minter bed ......................................^............ 73Coal beds in the covered portion of the region -__.-.-________. 73Character of coal._._---._._._____-_____-----___-_----...____.- 75

Physical properties.____-___-__-___-_---_--__-_-_________.. 75Chemical properties______-_-_____--------____-______-____ 75

Mining__._._____..._____._._-_-______._.__._._._ _____. 77Estimate of reserves.______.__._______-__----___.__--__.___.___ 79

Oil and gas._--.-__-___.._-_______-______---_--_-_.---..._-__-. 79Salt deposits. ............................^...-...^................ 80Artesian water._--_-____--_________---_-_____-------_---_--_-_---- 80Index____.__,___________________-----_.._______ :83

ni

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page ." Plate 11. Geologic map of the Minot region, North Dakot.._________ In pocket

12. Map of north-central North Dakota showing Pleistocene featuresof the Minot region and their relation to surrounding areas_. 62

.13. A, Coteau coal bed in the strip pit of the Truax-Traer Lignite Coal Co. in sec. 35, T. 152 N., R. 81 W.; B, Coteau bed over lain by Pleistocene gravel at the Reed mine, in the SW% sec. 27, T. 153 N., R. 82 W-..-..--_---.-.---.-.-.---.--.. 70

14. Secjipns of the Coteau coal bed_____________________________ 7015. Seclaons of the Garrison Creek coal bed______.__-__-__-.___ 70

^Figure 11. Index map of North Dakota and adjacent States showing loca tion of Minot region and other areas described in published reports. ___________-____-___-_-_--__------___---_----- 45

12. Index map of the Minot region, North Dakota, showing areas in which different methods of mapping the geologic features were used__________----__-_-___-_-_____-____________ 47

13. Diagrammatic section north-south across Minot region showing position of coal beds, rock formations, and other geologic features. ___________.________-__________________.:_____ 61

14. Sketch map of North Dakota and adjacent areas showing majorgeographic and physiographic features._--_________--_-__ 63

15. Sections of the Burlington coal bed________________________ 6916. Sections of the Wolf Creek coal bed__-___-_____________-___ 7017. Sections of the Minter coal bed_.---___--__________--__-_ 74

IV

GEOLOGY AND COAL RESOURCES OF THE MINOT REGION, NORTH DAKOTA

By DAVID A. ANDREWS

ABSTRACT

The Minot region includes about 2,800 square miles in north-central' North Dakota, extending from the Souris River on the north to the Missouri River on the south and from the western border of Ward County on the west to Anamoosej. Sheridan County, on the east.

The divide between the Souris and Missouri Rivers, which is also the divide- between drainage to Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, follows a belt of hummocky topography which is about 20 miles wide and trends northwestward across- the central part of the Minot region. The surface of the region southwest of the divide is a plateau trenched to a depth of 200 feet or more by the valleys of the Missouri River and its tributaries. The northeastern part of the region fs a plain* sloping gently to the northeast and bordered on the north by the valleys, 100 to 200 feet deep, of the Souris River and the Riviere des Lacs.

About 250 feet of soft buff to gray sandstones and shales of the lower part of the- Fort Union formation, of Eocene (Tertiary) age, are exposed along the Missouri River and probably 150 feet or more of these sedimentary rocks are exposed at places in the higher parts of the area. -The Fort Union is also exposed in places- along the Souris River, the Riviere des Lacs, and some of their deeper tributaries. Pleistocene glacial deposits, 1 to 200 feet thick, form a widespread surface cover in the high central part of the region and consist of sand, gravel, boulders, and clay. Similar deposits of the same age with a somewhat smaller thickness, 10 to 50 feet, cover most of the northern part of the region.

The hummocky divide in the centralpart of the region is formed by the Alta- mont moraine, of late Wisconsin (Pleistocene) age. The interstream divides of the country southwest of the Altamont moraine are covered with a thin veneer of drift of earlier than late Wisconsin age and late Wisconsin outwash. The present course of the Missouri River in this portion of the Minot region was established! and incised in the Missouri Plateau in Pleistocene time. The sloping plain on the northeast side of the Altamont moraine marks the site of the southwest margin of the glacial Lake Souris. The history of this lake as recorded in the northeast corner of the Minot region is revealed by beaches at levels of 2,100 down to 1,600 feet above sea level, by deltas, and by intricate abandoned channels that drained the lake.

During the higher stages of Lake Souris the beaches followed the front of the Altamont moraine and probably extended from the vicinity of Dogden Butte northwestward beyond the northern border of North Dakota, but at the low stages the lake was confined to the lower levels of Souris Valley and extended northward: from the vicinity of Drake and Minot to the junction of the Souris and Assiniboine- Rivers, in Manitoba.

43

44 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1938-39

Coal of lignite rank is found at several horizons in the Fort Union formation. Although several of these coal beds were found and measured, only six are of sufficient thickness and persistence to trace consistently along the outcrop and to . trace by means of records of the deep wells that have been drilled in the region. These six coal beds average more than 4 feet in thickness; the Coteau bed, in the northeastern part of the region, is 13 feet thick for considerable distances; the Burlington bed, in the northwestern part of the region, and the Garrison Creek bed, in the southwestern part, attain thicknesses of 10 feet in some places. Several localities are indicated where stripping of the Coteau bed, the Garrison Creek bed, and the Minter bed (in the southwestern part of the region) may be commercially feasible. The estimated reserves of coal in the Minot region are 18,094,592,000 tons.

A test well drilled for oil near Des Lacs and another well just outside the south east corner of the region were reported to have obtained showings of oil and gas but failed to obtain commercial production. The rocks in the region are practi cally flat-lying, and no indication of structural features favorable for oil accumula tion was found.

INTRODUCTION

The Minot coal region includes most of Ward and McLean Coun ties and parts of Mercer, Sheridan, and McHenry Counties, in north- central North Dakota. It includes an area of approximately 2,800 square miles extending from the Riviere des Lacs and the Souris River on the north to the Missouri River on the south and from the vicinity of Berthold and Makoti, near the west border, to the vicinity of Drake and Anamoose, on the east border. The location of the Minot region is shown on figure 11.

Coal fields whose locations are shown on figure 11

No.

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Field

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enne River.Fort Berthold. __ ... ___ .Fort Berthold.-.--... -.--Williston. .......... ......

Northwestern South Dakota.

Ekalaka....... ..............Little Sheep Mountain ......

Bulletin

906-B.381-A.726-A.541-Q.575.

381-A, 471-C.726-D.531-E.341-A.627.471-D.751-E.381-A.471-D.471-D.471-D.471-D.751-F.531-F.

No.

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?9an313?3334353fi37

Field

Gillette ...................

Bulletin

341-A.775.749.647.341-B.381-B.471-A.796-A.806-B.

831-B.847-B.812-A.847 C.906-C.541-H.691-G.905.856.

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FIELD WORK

The field investigations for this report were conducted by the United States Geological Survey during the summer and early fall of 1934 in consequence of an allotment of funds from the Public Works Administration. The writer, who had charge of the investigations, was assisted by R. B. Simpson, F. R. Waldron, and L. E. Holmgren. Topographic maps of the Minot, Sawyer, Benedict, Kongsberg, Bal- four, Drake, Garrison, and Coleharbor 15-minute quadrangles were used as base maps for mapping the geology of the eastern part of the region. Those portions of the region along the Missouri and Souris Rivers and the Riviere des Lacs not covered by the topographic maps were mapped by plane table and telescopic alidades; altitudes were determined by measuring vertical angles with the alidade, beginning with benchmarks on the topographic maps; numerous land corners were located to determine the location of land lines. In the western part of the region, where no coal crops out, the township plats pub lished by the General Land Office were used as base maps, and loca tions were determined by compass direction and speedometer meas urements of distances; altitudes were determined by aneroid barom eters. In most places these traverses followed section-line roads. The use of the automobile traverse method of mapping permitted rapid mapping of a large area where there are no rock outcrops and where the location and altitude of wells and the distribution of glacial deposits comprised the principal data to be obtained". The areas mapped by the different methods are shown on figure 12.

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS

That portion of the Minot region included in Ward and McLean Counties has been described by Wilder and Wood, 1 who gave an extended description of the known lignites in Ward County. Wilder 2 has briefly discussed the coals along the Missouri River in the south ern part of the region. Later the known coal outcrops were briefly described and an estimate made of the reserves of coal in North Dakota by Leonard, Babcock, and l)ove.3 Willard and Erickson 4 de scribed the hummocky central portion of the region, known as the Coteau du Missouri, and presented a detailed map of a part of the Coteau. Several references to the glacial features of Lake Souris were made by Upham 5 but he did not describe in detail any of the

* Wilder, F. A., and Wood, L. H., Lignite deposits of McLean County and preliminary report on Ward County: North Dakota Geol. Survey 2d Bienn. Report, pp. 74-141,1901-1902.

»Wilder, F. A., The lignite of North Dakota and its relation to irrigation: U. S. Geol. Survey Water- Supply Paper 117, pp. 34-35,1905.

» Leonard, A. G., Babcock, E. J., and Dove, L. P., The lignite deposits of North Dakota: North Dakota Geol. Survey Bull. 4, pp. 111-131,146-152,1925.

1 WJllard, D. E., and Erickson, M. B., Survey of the Coteaus of the Missouri: North Dakota Agr. College Survey 2d Bienn. Kept., for 1903-4, pp. 17-27,1904.

' Upham, Warren, The glacial Lake Agassiz: U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 25,1896.

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48. CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1938-39

features that are found in this part of North Dakota. Simpson 8 briefly described the general features of the geology of North Dakota and included a detailed description of artesian water by counties.

The Minot region was briefly described in a preliminary report by the writer, 7 and an abstract by him describing the features of glacial Lake Souris has also been published.8

The geology and coal resources of an area on the west were described! in a preliminary report by Smith 9 and more fully described in a later report by Pishel. 10 The adjoining area on the south has also been described by Smith. 11 Other reports describing the geology and coal resources of nearby areas in North Dakota, South Dakota, eastern Montana, and Wyoming are indicated on figure 11.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The writer' wishes to express his appreciation to his assistants, Messrs. Simpson, Waldron, and Holmgren, for their industry and efficient service during the field work. He also wishes to express his gratitude for the cooperation of the many inhabitants who gave information about their wells, of the well drillers, who supplied much additional information, and of the coal-mine operators, who gave freely of their time to assist in the study of their mines. Mr. E. A. Whitman, chief engineer of the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, supplied detailed logs of the wells drilled by that railroad. H. D. Miser, under whose direction this work was done, and A. A. Baker, both of the United States Geological Survey, gave many helpful suggestions during the preparation of this report.

GEOGRAPHY

SURFACE FEATURES

Most of the Minot region lies on the northeast margin of the Mis souri Plateau, an extensive plateau area, now considerably dissected, extending eastward from the northern Rocky Mountains. The north eastern part of the plateau has been severed from the main part by the Missouri River, which has been entrenched 200 to 300 feet below the general plateau level of the immediately adjacent country. The Missouri River cuts across the southeast corner of the region and forms the northeastern boundary of the Missouri Plateau. The Coteau du

Simpson, H. E., Geology and ground-water resources of North Dakota: U. S. Oeol. Survey Water-Sup ply Paper 598,1929.

' Andrews, D. A., Geology and coal resources of the Minot area, North-central North Dakota: TJ. S. Dept. Interior Press Mem., Aug. 5,1935.

8 Andrews, D. A., Early stages of glacial Lake Souris, North Dakota: Washington Acad. Sci. Jour., vol. 25, no. 12, pp. 568-569,1935.

8 Smith, C. D., The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation lignite field, North Dakota: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull, 381, pp. 30-39,1909.

10 Pishel, M. A., Lignite in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota, north of Missouri River: U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 471, pp. 170-186,1912.

» Smith, C. D., The Washburn lignite field, North Dakota: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 381, pp. 19-29,1909.

GEOLOGY AND COAL, MIETOT KEGION, N. DAK. 49

Missouri is bounded on the south and west by the Missouri River and on the northeast by the Riviere des Lacs and Souris River, which border the Minot region on the north. The altitudes along the Mis souri River range from 1,675 to 1,720 feet in the Minot region, and the altitudes along the Souris River and Riviere des Lacs range from 1,520 to 1,640 feet. On each side of these rivers the surface rises gently as a regular plain toward the interstream divide, which is a hummocky strip extending southeastward across the central part of the Minot region. A few local hills along this divide have altitudes slightly more than 2,300 feet above sea level.

A fairly steep northward-facing escarpment 100 to 200 feet high, here called the Altamont escarpment (see pi. 11) follows an approxi mately straight line extending from the northwest corner of the Minot region southeastward through Kongsberg to the southeastern part of the region. The general surface of the part of the region northeast of this escarpment is an even plain sloping 30 to 40 feet to the mile northeastward from altitudes of 1,900 to 2,100 feet above sea level at the escarpment to 1,600 to 1,800 feet above sea level at the border of the river valleys. The western and central part of the plains area is drained by numerous parallel streams flowing northeast to the major streams. That portion of the plain north and east of the vicinity of Butte is slightly irregular and uneven, and the relief is less than 100 feet; it is very poorly drained, although there are numer ous abandoned stream valleys, now occupied by swamps, that are filled and clogged with irregular hummocks of sand and gravel or occupied by very weak sluggish drainage; it becomes more uneven toward the southeast corner and is surmounted by two rounded hills rising about 200 feet above the general level of the plain in T. 150 N., Rs. 75 and 76 W.

About 10 miles northeast of and more or less parallel to the Alta mont escarpment, the plain is entrenched by the valleys of the Riviere des Lacs and the Souris River. The Riviere des Lacs, the smaller of the two, follows a meandering course through a flat-bottomed straight valley 150 to 250 feet deep from Carpio to Burlington, where it joins the Souris River. The markedly meandering Souris River flows south eastward from Burlington to Velva, where it turns northeastward just outside the Minot region, eventually flowing northward and north westward around the west side of the Turtle Mountains before enter ing the Assiniboine River in Manitoba. The valley walls along the southwest side of the Souris Valley remain steep and high southeast ward from Burlington, but the walls on the northeast side of the valley decrease in height toward the southeast, in consequence of which the northern walls southeast of Minot are in most places less than 100 feet high. The south wall of the Souris Valley from Minot to Velva is here called the Souris escarpment. From Velva the Souris

50

River flows northeastward in a shallow valley, but the Souris escarp ment trends somewhat indistinctly southeastward and merges into the Altamont escarpment near Krueger Lake, in T. 150 N., R. 77 W. The Souris escarpment trends northwestward from Minot approxi mately parallel to but a few miles east of the valley of the Souris River. In this part of the region its topographic expression becomes less and less distinct. .......

A belt of country about 20 miles wide that is characterized by innumerable hummocks and depressions lies southwest of the Alta mont escarpment. The local relief at many places in this belt is 200 feet. There is no surface drainage from this part of the region, for most <of the precipitation sinks into the underlying sand or gravel and 1ihe remainder gathers into more or less ephemeral lakes in the depres sions. The drainage divide between the Souris River, which drains into Hudson Bay, and the Missouri River, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico, follows this belt.

The southwestern part of the Minot region, a portion of the Missouri Plateau, is bordered by the deep valleys of the Missouri River and its tributaries. The Missouri River Valley is about 3 miles wide and is ^bordered by walls that rise abruptly 200 feet to the plateau surface "forming the divides between Douglas, Garrison, Snake, and Wolf Oeeks.

The term "Coteau du Missouri" has long been applied to this por tion of North Dakota, but considerable confusion has arisen as to the exact meaning of the term. It has been applied both to the Altamont and Souris escarpments and to various parts of the country bordered by these escarpments. However, the United States Geographic Board 12 defined the Coteau du Missouri as "the narrow plateau beginning in the northwest corner of North Dakota between the Missouri River and River des Lacs and Souris River and running southeast and south with its southern limit not well defined and its western escarpment forming the bluffs of the Missouri River." This definition clearly means that the Coteau du Missouri is that portion of the Missouri Plateau province lying north and east of the Missouri Hiver, but it is perhaps a broader application than that intended by Catlin, 13 who first described the coteaus and referred only to that part of the hilly hummocky divide between the Missouri River and the iSouris River. (See fig. 13.)

» U. S. Geographic Board 6th Kept., 1890-1932, p. 238,1933.11 Catlin, Q., Account of a journey to the Coteau des Prairies, with a description of the Red Pipe Stone

fluarr.y; and granite boulders found there: Am. Jour. Sci., 1st ser., vol. 38, pp. 138-146, 1840.

GEOLOGY AND COAL, MINOT REGION, N. DAK. 51

DRAINAGE AND WATER SUPPLY

The northern part of the region is drained by the Souris River and by the Riviere des Lacs, which joins the Souris River at .Burlington. Both streams are perennial. The Souris River flows southeastward across the northern part of the Minot region but near Velva turns northeastward and flows in a northerly direction to the Assiniboine River in Manitoba. The northern plains area is drained by straight, parallel northeastward-trending tributaries of the Souris River and the Riviere des Lacs.

The southwestern part of the region is drained by the Missouri. River, a tributary of the Mississippi, and by short tributaries Douglas Creek (West Fork, Middle Fork, and East. Fork), Garrison,. Snake, and Wolf Creeks that join the Missouri. These small streams^ do not carry water except after rains or thaws, but they have marshy stretches that are fed by seeps or springs from the coal beds.

The southeastward-trending belt of country, 20 miles wide, that- follows the divide between the Missouri and the Souris Rivers has no- outflowing surface drainage. This belt is underlain by deposits ol gravel, sand, and silt as much as 200 feet in thickness, and in constf- quence most of the precipitation sinks into the ground, although small lakes and marshes hold water for part of the year. Much of the water lost reappears at the surface, either as seeps at the contact of the gravel with bedrock or as springs or seeps in the coal beds on each side of the divide.

CLIMATE AND VEGETATION

The climate of the Minot region is semiarid. The average annual precipitation at four United States Weather Bureau observation sta tions ranges from 15.65 to 17.71 inches, but the departures from this average may be large in any year. More than half of the rainfall occurs during the summer. During 1934 the temperature ranged from 34° to 106° F. The following table summarizing the climatic

.data obtained at four stations in the region has been compiled from the-records of the United States Weather Bureau:


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GEOLOGY AND COAL, MINOT REGION, 1ST. DAK. 53

The vegetation 14 in the Minot region is typical of the vegetation of the northern Great Plains. Grass is abundant and consists prin cipally of grama, needle, wheat, and prairie June grasses, although nigger wool and bluestem grasses are common in the morainal hills. Trees grow naturally only along the stream courses; ash,' boxelder, .and cottonwood are the common varities. Wheat is the principal cultivated crop, although other small grains oats, flax, barley, and rye are extensively grown. Corn and alfalfa are also important crops particularly along the valleys.

POPULATION

The population of the Minot region is 42,550. According to the 1930 census there are 17 towns or villages in this region with a popula tion of more than 100, but about half of the population is distributed through the rural districts. Minot, with a population of 16,099 in 1930, is the third largest city in North Dakota; it is on the main lines of two transcontinental railroads and is the principal shipping point . and business center for most of the northwestern part of North Dakota .and adjacent parts of Canada. Farming is the principal industry in the region, although coal mining is also an important industry.

ACCESSIBILITY

The main lines of two railroads, the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie and the Great Northern, cross the Minot area. The main line of the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway between Milwaukee and Regina, Saskatchewan, on the Canadian Pacific Rail way, follows the valley of the Riviere des Lacs and Souris River from the northern border of the region, at Carpio, through Minot to "Velva, 4 miles east of Sawyer, where it leaves the valley of the Souris .River and continues southeastward through Balfour, Drake, and .Anamoose to the east boundary of the region. A spur line of this railway runs westward from Drake to Max, whence it goes south and southeast through Garrison and Coleharbor and connects with the Northern Pacific Railway at Bismarck, 75 miles south of Coleharbor. .Another spur line continues west from Max through Douglas, Ryder, .and Makoti to Sanish, on the Missouri River 40 miles west of Makoti. Another spur of this railway runs northeast from Drake. The main line of the Great Northern Railway, between St. Paul, Minn., and 'Seattle, Wash., crosses the northern part of the region through Berthold, Minot, and Surrey. A spur line of this railway extends "northwestward from Berthold, and the "Surrey cut-off" extends southeastward from Surrey and crosses the corner of the region

14 Aldous, A. E., and Deeds, J. F., Land classification of the northern Great Plains, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1929.


northeast of Drake. No part of the region is more than 25 miles from a shipping point on one of the railways.

Two interstate highways cross the Minot region. A paved high way, U. S. 2, follows the route of the main line of the Great Northern Railway. A graveled highway, U. S. 83, extends south througk Minot, Coleharbor, and Bismarck, 75 miles south of this1, region. Other improved highways give ready access to other parts of the region; N. Dak. 23 trends east through Ryder, Max, and Drake;

' N. Dak. 37 trends east through Garrison; N. Dak. 28 trends south across the western part of the area, crossing the Missouri River by ferry south of Garrison; N. Dak. 41 trends south through Ruso; N. Dak. 9 is paved and. follows approximately the route of the mam line of the "Soo" Railway. Scheduled bus service is available on. U. S. 2 and N. Dak. 9 across North Dakota and on U. S. 83 between Minot and Bismarck. Local bus service is available on a number of other highways that have contract mail service. Roads that can be traveled with an automobile follow most of the section lines, so that practically all parts of this region are readily accessible.

The Missouri River is a navigable stream but is little used. Two grain elevators have been built on the banks of the river, one on the north side and one on the south side in the southwestern part of the Minot region, and grain is sometimes shipped from these points.

STRATIGRAPHY

GENERAL FEATURES

The sedimentary rocks exposed in the Minot region comprise the Fort Union formation, of Eocene (Tertiary) age, glacial deposits of Pleistocene age, and Recent alluvium. The Fort Union formation is well exposed along the valley of the Missouri River, but north of this valley it is extensively covered by glacial drift. Some informa tion concerning the rocks older than the Fort Union is available from the log of a deep well and also from their outcrops hi western NortK Dakota. The distribution of the formations is shown on the geologic map (pi. 11).

ROCKS NOT EXPOSED PRE-:LANCE FORMATIONS

The following log of a well drilled by the Des Lacs Western Oil Co. in the southwest corner of sec. 4, T. 155 N., R. 85 W., in the north western part of the Minot region, supplies a description of the rocks underlying the region to a depth of nearly 4,000 feet. This log was published by Simpson, 15 who used the log furnished by the driller and the interpretation of the rocks by J. B. Reesider Jr., and W. T. Thorn, Jr. The interpretation of the contact between the Lance formation and the Fort Union formation is that of the writer. The

» Simpson, H. H., Geology and ground water resources of North Dakota: U. S. Geol. Survey Water- Supply Paper 598, pp. 252-253, 1929.


earlier interpretation placed this contact at a depth of 920 feet in the well.

Generalized record of the Des Lacs Western Oil Co.'s well, in the SW% sec. 4, T. 155 N.R. 85 W.

Age

Tertiary (Eocene) - -

Upper Cretaceous --

Formation

Fort Union forma tion.

Lance formation....

Fox Hills sandstone.

Niobrara formation .

Character of strata penetrated

Gray, rather calcareous sandy clay, with streaks of limestone, sandstone, and lignite. Hard layer, with show of gas beneath, reported by driller at 210 feet.

Fine quartz sand, reported by driller to show oil. Dark sandy calcareous shale, containing lignite

and fragments of limestone.

Gray sandy clay, with some carbonaceous mat ter.

Gray gumbo, with fragments of light-colored limestone.

No cuttings; reported by driller as sandstone, with good show of oil and gas.

No cuttings; reported by driller as "limestone, with good show of oil."

Light-gray shaly limestone, with fragments of fossils.

Whitish clay.... ................................

Gray calcareous shale and limestone. Accord ing to driller's report there is sandy shale and sandstone, showing l to 10 barrels of oil a day, between 2,300 and 2,310 feet, which may cor respond to the gas sand of the gas field at Qlendive, Mont.

Gray calcareous shale; fragments of fossils at 2,650 feet.

Gray shaly limestone, with Oslrea and Ino- ceramus.

Blue limestone with Inoceramus and Ostrea congesta; probably corresponds to Eagle sand stone of Montana.

Dark crumbly calcareous shale. Blue limestone containing pyrite and fossils at 2,995-3,030 feet. Driller reports sandstone showing 1 to 10 barrels of oil a day at 3,040-3,043 feet. This unit probably corresponds to Telegraph Creek formation of southern Montana.

Blue limestone with Baculites, Inoceramus, and Ostrea.

Dark-blue to black calcareous shale and lime stone, with Ostrea congesta and abundant frag ments of thick-shelled Inoceramus.

Dark gummy, somewhat calcareous shale.......Dark-gray, rather splintery shale; fragments of

fossils. Dark, rather gummy shale. According to dril

ler, limestone and limy shale at 3,460-3,560 feet.

Dark hard massive, fairly calcareous shale ___Gray limestone.. __________________

Dark hard shale and limestone with Inoceramus. Quartz sand; may correspond to Muddy sand

or Newcastle sandstone of Wyoming called Dakota sandstone by driller.

Hard dark, rather calcareous shale, with Ino ceramus.

Depth (feet)

0-50

60-590

590-598

598-900? 9007-920 920-960

960-1, 050 1, 050-1, 075

1, 075-1, 125

1, 125-1, 160 1,160-1,300

1, 300-1, 340

1, 340-1, 900 1, 9007-1, 905

1, 905-1, 960 1, 960-1, 980

1, 980-? 7-2, 165

2, 165-2, 300 2, 300-2, 320

2, 320-2, 800

2, 820-2, 830

2, 830-2, 833 2, 833-2, 878 2, 878-2, 900

2,900-3,133

3, 133-3, 140

3, 140-3, 400

3, 400-3, 476 3, 476-3, 500

3, 500-3, 650

3, 650-3, 850 3, 856-3, 860 3, 860-3, 880 3, 880-3, 890 3, 890-3, 909

3, 909-3, 924

3, 924-3, 980

66910 39-


The Lance formation, of Upper Cretaceous age, does not crop out in the Minot region. In the central and southern part of North Dakota the Lance formation is about 650 feet thick and is divided into a lower member about 350 feet thick and the overlying Cannon- ball marine member, about 300 feet thick, or the Ludlow lignitic member, a lateral equivalent of the Cannonball. 16 The Cannonball marine member crops out along the Missouri River at S tan ton, less than 15 miles south of the Minot region; its practically flat-lying position suggests that it is probably not more than 50 feet below the surface in the valley of the Missouri River in the southern part of the Minot region. This member "is composed predominantly of dark sandy shale or shaly sandstone with a subordinate amount of dark- yellow and gray sandstone. It also contains some thin limestones. All the strata are lenticular in character, and individual beds can be followed for only short distances." 17

According to Thorn's interpretation of the log of the well drilled by the Des Lacs Western Oil Co. (p. 13) in the northwestern part of the region, the top of the Lance is 920 feet below the surface (altitude about 1,100 feet). The writer, however, would place the top of the Lance about 300 feet higher, at the base of the 8-foot coal bed at a depth of 598 feet (altitude about 1,400 feet), because his correlations of higher coal beds indicate that the rocks in the western part of the Minot region are nearly horizontal and that the altitude of the top of the Lance along the Missouri River is about 1,600 feet. Thus 200 feet of irregularity of the Lance-Fort Union contact between the Missouri and the Des Lacs well is more consistent than the irregularity of about 500 feet that is required if this contact is placed at a depth of 920 feet in the Des Lacs well. In addition, according to the writer's interpreta tion, the thickness of the Lance in the Des Lacs well would be about 700 feet, which agrees closely with the measured thickness of about 650 feet at surface outcrops in southwestern North Dakota.

The Lance has not been recognized in the northeastern part of the Minot region nor in the valley of the Souris River in North Dakota; consequently the Fort Union has been mapped as resting directly upon the Pierre shale, of Upper Cretaceous age, along the valley of the Souris River northeast of the region. 18 It is possible that the Lance forma tion is present in this part of North Dakota but has not been recog nized at the few localities where the bedrock is not covered by glacial drift. It is also possible that marine sedimentation resulting in the

18 Lloyd, E. R., and Hares, C. J., The Cannonball marine member of the Lance formation of North and South Dakota and its bearing on the Lance-Laramie problem: Jour. Geology, vol. 23, pp. 523-547,1915.

» Stanton, T. W., The fauna of the Cannonball marine member of the Lance formation: U. S. Qeol. Survey Prof. Paper 128, p. 7,1921.

'8 Leonard, A. G., The geological map of North Dakota: North Dakota Univ. Quart. Jour., vol. 4, p. 4, 1913.

GEOLOGY AND" COAL, MINOT REGION, N. DAK. 57

deposition of beds to which the name Pierce is applied continued with out any interruption in the Minot region until Fort Union time; if so, this means that the nonmarine Lance of western North Dakota is represented in the eastern part of the State by marine deposits that have not been or cannot be separated from the Pierre. 19

BOCKS EXPOSED

TERTIARY SYSTEM

EOCENE SERIES

Fort Union formation ^-The Fort Union formation is well exposed along the Missouri River and its tributaries in the southwestern part of the region. Along the Riviere des Lacs and the Souris River and some of their northeastward-flowing tributaries, there are small iso lated outcrops of the Fort Union formation; but a coal bed was fol lowed intermittently for a distance of 35 miles from the vicinity of Kongsberg northwestward to a point 10 miles south of Minot. The part of the formation exposed in the Minot region consists of light- colored tan and gray sandstones alternating with darker-gray and buff shales, with complete gradation between the shales and sand stones. It contains iron-stained concretionary layers and coal beds that range in thickness from an inch to 14 feet or more. The coal beds are more persistent than any other beds in the Fort Union and are the only key beds that can be traced. The following partial sec tion of the Fort Union formation measured along the Missouri River is typical of the lithology of the formation:

Section of Fort Union formation measured in SE% sec. SS, T. 147-N., R. 84 W.

Top concealed Ft. in.1. Shale and sandy shale, dull gray, tan, and buff_.___ 432. Coal.............__.___j f 2 63. Brown carbonaceous shale ^Garrison Creek coal bed. j %4. Goal....._._.._..___...) [ 1 115. Sandstone, light gray, poorly consolidated, evenly

bedded.____________________________________ 20. '6, 'Shaly sandstone and sandy shale, light gray, with

layers of brown iron-stained sandstone concre tions. .__-__--_-..__-.----_---_-_--._-_._.__ 30

7. Shaly sandstone and sandy shale, light gray.._____ 188. Black carbonaceous shale________.______________ 1 39. Coal, dirty_-____--___--_--__----_----_________ 3

10. Shale and sandy shale, like bed l__----_-_.-______ 20 611. Shaly sandstone and sandy shale, like bed 6________ 2312. Coal__________________________________________ 6

' Lloyd, E. R., and Hares, C. J., op. cit., p. 541. Andrews, D. A., Suggested Lance-Fort Union correla tions in adjacent parts-of Montana, North and South Dakota: Washington Acad. Sci. Jour. vol. 26, pp. 387-388, 1936,


Section of Fort Union formation measured in.SEl/{ sec. S3, T. 147 N., R. 84 W.-Cdntihued

Ft. in.,13. Shaly sandstone and sandy shale, like bed 6________ 33

Lower part of section measured in the northern part of sec. 27, T. 147 N., R. 84 W.:

14. Coal____.Wolf Creek coal bed.15. Clay, gray.

16. Coal______17. Shaly sandstone and sandy shale, like bed 6, _.._____ 23 +18. Coal_______________--.-.--.-,-.-,...,__ 2+

Water level in Missouri River._-_____________-_-__-____-_-_.,,,_,_ 227+

The Minter coal bed is about 50 feet above the top of this section,. In the central part of the Minot region coal-bearing rocks are found inx drilled wells 150 feet above the Minter bed. The sum of these meas urements gives an approximate measure (50 -f- 227 -f 150=427 feet) of the thickness of the Fort Union rocks exposed in the area. If the- base of the Fort Union is about 50 feet below water level where the- section given above was measured along the Missouri River, the total; thickness of the Fort Union formation in the Minot region is about, 475 feet.

QUATERNARY SYSTEM

PLEISTOCENE SERIES

Glacial drift caps the hills and divides between most of the tribu-- tary streams to the Missouri River in the southern part of the region.. These deposits, which have an average thickness of 20 feet or less, are- not shown on the geologic map. The drift is composed of sand and; gravel, scattered boulders, and minor amounts of clay and silt, un-- stratified and unconsolidated, and was deposited by pre-Wisconsin. glaciers, probably of Illinoian or lowan age. 20

The Altamont moraine, deposited by a glacier of late Wisconsin). age,21 caps the divide between the' Souris River .and the Missouri, River. It consists of unconsolidated gravel, sand, and abundant boulders, largely of granitic materials, with minor amounts of finer - sediments. This morainal material ranges'from a few feet to 200 feet, or more in thickness. In some places it rests directly on the Fort v Union; in others a layer of pre-late Wisconsin drift or till probably lies. between them.

All of the region north and east of the Altamont moraine is covered by glacial drift, which is overlain in most places by a thin veneer of" sediments laid down or reworked by the glacial Lake Souris, except, small areas where stream erosion has exposed the underlying Fort,

2 ° Alden, W. C., Physiography and glacial geology of eastern Montana and adjacent areas: U. S. Geol... Survey Prof. Paper 174, pp. 75-78,1932. Leonard, A. G., The pre-Wisconsin drift of North Dakota: Jour., Geology, vol. 24, pp. 521-532,1916.

« Chamberlin, T. C., Preliminary paper on the terminal moraine of the second glacial epoch: U. S... Geol. Survey 3d Ann. Kept., p, 388,1883. Upham, Warren, The glacial Lak;e- Agassiz: U. S. Geol. Survey - Mon. 25, p. 139,1896.


Union formation. The lake sediments are composed largely of sand, silt, and clay that fill the depressions of the lake floor or form a thin veneer over the drift deposited by the late Wisconsin and earlier glaciers. No attempt has been made by the writer to differentiate ^between the lake sediments and the underlying drift of this region, ior their combined thickness does not average more than 30 feet. <See.pl. 13, 5.) .......

Terraces along the Missouri River are floored by sand, gravel, and silt from a few feet to 75 feet or more thick. Some of the highest of these terraces are at a level comparable with those along the Missouri Hiver in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation,22 which occur 30 to 80 ifeet above the present river level and which Alden ffl discusses as follows:

It should be noted that not all the stream deposits in the abandoned channels or on the cut terraces cited above are known to be either pre-Iowan or not glacial outwash. Further study may show that at least some of them are not to be correlated with No. 3 bench.

However, he believes that at least some of the terraces at this level .-are equivalent to the No. 3 bench mapped along the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers in Montana and states thatihere is conclusive evidence that No. 3 bench was completed as early as the on- 'coming of the Wisconsin stage of glaciation.

No evidence was found during this investigation concerning the age of these terraces, but it is probable that some of the higher terraces are pre-Wisconsin and post-Kansas, 24 although it is equally probable 'that some of the lower and intermediate terraces are of late Wisconsin or even post-Wisconsin age.

RECENT SERIES

Alluvium is present along the courses of the Missouri and Souris Rivers, the Riviere des Lacs, and some of their major tributaries. Because the alluvium occupies so narrow a belt along the tributaries, it was mapped by the writer only along the major streams. No direct evidence of its thickness was obtained along the Missouri River except in a few places along the banks where less than 50 feet of alluvium overlies the Fort Union exposed in the stream channel. At Minot drilled wells have penetrated 142 feet of sand and gravel in the valley of the Souris River before encountering bedrock. 25 However, a part of the sand and gravel should probably be classed as Pleistocene.

" Pishel, M. A., Lignite in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota, north of Missouri River: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 471-C, p. 4.

>* Alden, W. C., Physiography and glacial geology of eastern Montana and adjacent areas: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper'174, p. 59,1932.

» Alden, W. C., op. cit. p. 58.. » Simpson, H. E., Geology and ground-water resources of North Dakota: U. S. Geol. Survey Water- Supply Paper 598, p. 255, 1929.


The Missouri River flows between banks which are at most places a quarter of a mile to a mile apart. Although the river at normal stages occupies only a part of this flood plain, the remainder of the area between the banks is covered with sand, gravel, and silt and lies only a few feet above water level; it is covered in part or wholly by practically all high stages of the river. The banks that confine the normal flood channel of the river are generally not less than 10 feet high and do not exceed 40 feet, averaging about 20 feet. Bordering this flood channel on both sides of .the river are deposits of sand and silt with some gravel, 20 feet or more thick, whose surface lies. 10 to 40 feet above the normal river level. This alluvium is normally flooded during the heavy spring floods. Rising above this alluvium is the alluvial terrace 10 to 20 feet higher, whose thickness may in places, exceed 50 feet. This terrace may be of Pleistocene age. It is the highest alluvial terrace found along the Missouri River in the Minotregion.

STRUCTURE

Although the rocks in eastern North Dakota dip gently westward, the rocks in central and western North Dakota, which includes the Minot region, are generally horizontal. (See fig. 13.) In continental sediments of the type found in the Minot region, where bedding is irregular, difficulty is encountered hi tracing key horizons to work out the structure. In this region the additional handicap of having few and poor exposures, except along the Missouri River, renders the problem even more difficult. Coal beds are the only beds that can be traced with assurance.

Although there are minor wrinkles and irregularities in the attitude of the beds, the flat-lying beds have no apparent regional dip. The Garrison Creek coal bed, which can be followed for more than 25 miles, across the southern part of the region at altitudes of 1,800 to 1,870 feet above sea level, is tentatively correlated by the writer with the Coteau bed, which crops out extensively in the northeastern part of the region at 1,830 to 1,910 feet above sea level. Although the base of the Fort Union has been interpreted by the writer as lying about 1,600 feet above sea level along the Missouri River in the southern part of the region and about 1,400 feet above sea level in the well of the Des Lacs. Western Oil Co. near Lonetree, in the northern part of the region, both of these assignments are interpretations and may be subject to- error. This variation could easily be accounted for by a transgression of the formational boundary. Similar transgressions have been noted in many places along the surface outcrop in eastern Montana. 26

There are three small structural features of interest. A shallow syncline with a maximum depth of less than 100 feet and a maximum

" Andrews, D. A., Suggested Lance-Fort Union correlations in adjacent parts of Montana, North and South Dakota: Washington Acad. Sci. Jour. vol. 26, pp. 387-388,1936.

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Plateau. The escarpment trends diagonally across the region in a northwesterly direction; it coincides with the south sides of the valleys of the Souris River and the Riviere des Lacs on the west and follows closely the northeast boundary of the Altamont moraine on the east. That portion of the Missouri Plateau section northeast of the Missouri River is referred to as the Coteau du Missouri.28

Although Leonard 29 thought that the major drainage patterns of North Dakota were formed in Tertiary time, prior to the Pleistocene glaciation, later workers as well as some of the earlier students have ascribed the present course of the Missouri River and other major drainage features of the part of North Dakota that includes the Minot region to the influence of Pleistocene glaciation.30 Todd 31 concluded that the Missouri and Yellowstone drained northward to the Hudson Bay prior to Pleistocene time and did not flow through the part of North Dakota included in the Minot region. He also concluded that the Little Missouri River (see pi. 12 and fig. 14) flowed along what is now the Missouri River from the present confluence of the Little Missouri and Missouri Rivers to the mouth of Snake Creek and con tinued northeastward along the valleys of Snake Creek and the Turtle Creek spillway to the present course of the Souris River in the vicinity of Velva. This course of the Little Missouri along Snake Creek and the Turtle Creek spillway may have been abandoned during one of the earlier glacial advances but was almost obliterated by deposits of the Wisconsin glacier. Such a course can be followed south of the Altamont moraine, but in and north of the Altamont moraine, where there was much deposition of material, this course cannot be followed unless the spillway of the highest stage of glacial Lake Souris from the vicinity of Ruso southward to Turtle Lake was localized along this old channel. Filling may not have completely obliterated the topogra phy of this old valley.

Alden 32 concludes that the diversion [of the upper Missouri River from its course to the Hudson Bay along a channel running northward from Williston 80 miles west of the Minot region to the present site] was undoubtedly due to the advance of one of the early ice sheets from the Hudson Bay region to the Coteau du Missouri, at either the Nebraskan or the Kansan stage of glaciation * * * Evidently the Missouri was sufficiently intrenched along its new course in North and South Dakota by the end of the Kansan stage of glaciation to maintain that course after the ice had melted away.

M U. S. Geographic Board 6th Kept., p. 238,1933." Leonard, A. G., Pleistocene drainage changes in western North Dakota: Geol. Soc. America Bull.,

vol. 27, pp. 295-304, 1916.so Warren, G. K., On certain physical features of the upper Mississippi River: Am. Naturalist, vol. 2,

pp. 497-502,1868. Todd, J. E., Is the channel of the .Missouri River through North Dakota of Tertiary ori gin?: Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 34, pp. 469-493,1923. Alden, W. 0., Physiography and glacial geology of eastern Montana and adjacent States: TI. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 174, p. 58,1932.

si Todd, J. E., op. cit., fig. 1, p. 471.» Alden, W. C., op. cit., p. 58.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

EXPLANATION

Spillway or drainage channels of overflow waters from

Lake Souris

MAP OF NORTH-CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA SHOWING PLEISTOCENE FEATURES OF THE M1NOT REGION AND THEIR DELATION TO SURROUNDING AREAS.

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Alden would correlate with the No. 3 bench in Montana some of the terraces along the Missouri River in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation that are undoubtedly equivalent to some of the terraces along the Missouri River in the Minot region 30 to 80 feet above the present river level. In this connection he states 33 that "there is con clusive evidence that No. 3 bench was completed as early as the oncoming of the Wisconsin stage of glaciation."

It seems fairly conclusive, then, that the present major drainage pattern of that part of North Dakota embracing the Minot region was established in Pleistocene time prior to the Wisconsin advance of the glacier, probably by the end of the Kansan stage, although there may have been considerable modification of the Souris River drainage after the withdrawal of the Wisconsin glaciers. \

The glacial deposits south and west of the Altamont moraine are thin and have not been entirely differentiated on the geologic map '(pi. 11). They consist of glacial drift, less than 20 feet thick in most places, capping the level divides between the tributary streams of the Missouri River of pre-Wisconsin time; probably some of the isolated exposures of morainal material in the western part of the region south of Ryder should be classed as of early Wisconsin age; 34 probably some of the unmapped glacial material as well as some of the material mapped as morainal should also be classed as outwash.

The glacial deposits left by the late Wisconsin glacier are the most conspicuous in the Minot region as well as in the remainder of North Dakota, not only because they obscure much of the material de posited by earlier glaciers but also because weathering and erosion have scarcely affected them since the withdrawal of the ice. The Altamont moraine, which marks the farthest advance of the ice front, forms a belt of hummocky topography about 20 miles wide, trending northwestward across the region and forming the divide between the Hudson Bay and Gulf of Mexico drainage systems. A moraine ex tending southwestward from the vicinity of Douglas through Blue Mountain to the southern part of T. 149 N., R. 87 W., may be earlier than late Wisconsin; also the isolated exposures of moraine west of this one may be of the same age, but they are here grouped with the late Wisconsin moraine, although considered to have been formed during the earliest part of the advance of the Wisconsin ice.

Beaches at two levels along the moraine, in the vicinity of Ryder ;and Makoti and in the western part of T. 150 N., R. 86 W., show that ajsmall body of water, here named Lake Ryder, was formed by a dam between the front of the Altamont moraine and the northwest side of the moraine extending through Blue Mountain. The maximum depth of the lake probably did not greatly exceed 50 feet. At a high

« Alden, W. C., op. cit., p. 59.»< Alden, W. C., op. cit., fig. 6, p. 76.


stage of this lake some water drained westward through a small stream' ichannel across the outwash plain in the southern part of T. 150 N., 3R. 87 W., but the channel through which Lake Ryder was completely drained must be somewhere west of the Minot region.

As the 'glacier melted and retreated from the Altamont moraine "water accumulated in the area dammed between the moraine and the iront of the ice. This dam has been accounted for by postulating a Tetreat of the ice from the moraine in the region northwest of Dogden 33utte while the ice retained its position against the moraine in the Tegion southeast of Dogden Butte.35 This body of water has been rnamed Lake Souris. A low stage was described by Upham.36 Sedi- :ments deposited in Lake Souris and the glacial materials reworked by 'the lake waters formed an even floor, which is now a smooth plain rsloping 30 to 40 feet to the mile toward the northeast. The slope of 'this plain probably represents approximately the slope of the pre- Wisconsin surface.' A series of beaches between altitudes of 2,000 and '2,120 feet which mark the water level of the highest stage of Lake Souris are present intermittently near the northeast edge of the Alta mont moraine. Beaches northwest of T. 152 N., R. 82 W., have not ibeen accurately traced and correlated and are shown on plate 11 as a series of uncorrelated beaches.

Beaches at lower levels representing successively lower stages of Lake Souris were formed at altitudes of 1,900 and 1,800 feet. Deltas and beaches along the Souris River from Minot eastward and in the "northeastern part of the region mark a stage of the lake when the water level was at an altitude between 1,620 and 1,560 feet; this stage is the lowest recorded in the Minot region.

The glacial Lake Souris at its highest stage, marked by the beaches at altitudes near 2,120 feet, drained to the Missouri River by way of Horseshoe Valley and Turtle Lake, here called the Turtle Lake spill way, which was eroded to a maximum depth of about 80 feet in the .region between Ruso and Strawberry Lake. As the glacier front continued to withdraw other and lower outlets were uncovered and there were stages of the lake marked by beaches at 2,000, 1,900, and 1,800 feet above sea level. The outlets or spillways controlling these lake levels are probably south and east of the Minot region. Thus the Turtle Lake spillway ceased to function as soon as an outlet at a lower level was formed, each successive lower spillway causing an abandonment of the previous higher spillway.

The low stage of Lake Souris at altitudes of 1,620 to 1,560 feet probably covered far more area than the higher stages, because the ice front was farther to the north and probably had a much longer

" Andrews, D. A., Early stages of glacial Lake Souris, North Dakota: Washington Acad. Sci. Jour., vol. 25, no. 12, pp. 568-569, 1935.

M OJpham, Warren, The glacial Lake Agassiz: U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 25, p. 255,1895 [1896].

66 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 19 38-3 v

duration. At any rate, the history of this low stage present in Minot region is much more intricate than that of the higher stages. The Krueger Lake spillway,37 which extends from the vicinity of Velva, southeastward to the vicinity of Butte, includes Krueger Lake and is joined in T. 149 N., R. 75 W., by the Bentley Lake spillway, extending southward from Bentley Lake 3 miles west of Drake. These two spillways drained Lake Souris when the water stood at 1,620 feet above sea level. They lowered the surface of the water to about 1,580 feet as the valleys were eroded down. A minor tributary heading about 2 miles west of Kief has a well-developed valley that carried some of the overflow at this stage.

In a reconnaissance study of the area south and east of the Minot region it was apparent that the combined Krueger-Bentley Lake spill way drained at first through a now abandoned channel to Pipestem Creek, a tributary of the James River, which joins the Missouri. River in the southeast corner of South Dakota. While water was still flowing through the Krueger-Bentley Lake spillway, however, the lower reaches of this spillway were captured in T. 148 N., R. 73 W., by the Sheyenne River, which joins the Red River at Fargo, N. Dak., in the bed of glacial Lake Agassiz. This capture could have been effected during the early stages of glacial Lake Agassiz, because the highest level of that lake was about 1,100 feet above sea level, or nearly 500 feet lower than the altitude of Lake Souris at the 1,620- foot stage. The retreat of the front of the Wisconsin glacier and the formation of Lake Agassiz gave a much steeper gradient to those streams flowing to Lake Agassiz than to the streams flowing south ward to the Missouri River, so that the Sheyenne River worked head- ward and captured the headwaters of the James River drainage. .

At a later time, when the level of Lake Souris had been lowered 20- to 40 feet by the erosion of the Krueger and Bentley Lake spillways, the retreat of the ice front uncovered the Wintering River spillway, which was low enough to serve as a drainage channel, causing the abandoning of the Krueger and Bentley Lake spillways. At first the waters draining through the southern part of the Wintering River spillway flowed eastward to the Sheyenne River through the Antelope Valley spillway, and later with still further retreat of the glacier the drainage was northward through the Wintering River spillway to the present course of the Souris River. When the Wintering River and Antelope Valley spillways began to carry the drainage from the lake,, the stream flowing through the Bentley Lake Valley became sluggish, and was choked by dams of heavily laden ice. When the icebergs in

'? In order to facilitate discussion of the history of Lake Souris, those valleys formed by the drainage of the- lake are called spillways, and the best-known geographic feature in or along each valley is attaQhed to iden tify that particular spillway for convenience in reference. Most of the spillways are now completely aban doned; some of them have hardly been altered since Wisconsin time, but others have been slightly modified by post-Wisconsin changes of drainage.

GEOLOGY AND COAL, MINOT. REGION, N. DAK. 67

the Bentley Lake spillway melted and deposited their load of material the valley was left half filled with hummocks of drift and depressions.38

An interesting feature is the northwest-southeast alinement of the glacial deposits in the vicinity of Drake and Balfour. This alinement is further emphasized by the straight symmetrical ridges in the vicinity of Balfour.39 Although these straight ridges have been interpreted as beach ridges by Upham,40 the writer believes that they are very similar to the features described by Tyrrell 41 as ispatinows and that they represent fillings in longitudinal cracks near the front of the waning glacier. The remarkably even crests of the ridges probably indicate that the depth of filling of the cracks was controlled by the level of Lake Souris at the time of their formation. Their similarity to the features described by Tyrrell is supported by their straightness, sym metry, length, and even crest. This would indicate, then, that although the regional advance of the Wisconsin glacier was southwestward, an arm of the glacier advanced southeastward along the valley of the Souris River in the late stages of the late Wisconsinadvance.42

COAL BEDS

All the coal that crops out in the Minot region is in the Fort Union formation. The deep well of the Des Lacs Western Oil Co., drilled near Lonetree, also encountered some coal in the underlying Lance formation. Coal beds crop out extensively along the valleys of the Missouri River and its tributaries, but in most of the region the coal- bearing rocks are concealed by a mantle of glacial deposits, and the coal beds appear at the surface only where post Pleistocene stream erosion has exposed the underlying rocks. Such erosion has been particularly effective in exposing coal beds along the valley of the Souris River and the Riviere des Lacs northwest from Minot and near the head of the tributary streams northwest from Kongsberg. Out crops of the coal beds have been extensively prospected, and much of the information concerning the coal beds of the Minot region was ob tained from prospect and mine openings. Some information concern ing the thickness and altitude of coal beds in the drift-covered areas was obtained from the records of drilled water wells, but the records of a great many wells were incomplete or not available and therefore supplied little or no information concerning the coal.

Sections of the coal beds were measured at numbered localities indicated on plate 11, and graphic sections with corresponding locality numbers appear in figures 15, 16, 17, and plates 14 and 15. Thick

's See topographic map of Drake quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1930. ^ See topographic map of Balfour quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1929. <o Upham, Warren, The glacial Lake Agassiz: U. S. Geol. Survey Mou. 25, p. 255,1896. «' Tyrrell, J. B., Report of the country between Athabasca Lake and Churchill River: Canada Geol.

Survey Ann. Kept., new ser., vol. 8, p. 23D, 1897. « Andrews, D. A., op. cit., p. 569.


nesses and,depths of coal beds encountered in the wells are plotted on-, plate 11.

BURLINGTON BED

The Burlington bed is recognized only in the part of the Minot region north and west of Minot. This bed was discussed by L. H. Wood,43 who described the mines and the coal beds of Ward County in 1902. Later this coal bed was described hi a general report dis cussing the lignite of North Dakota, in which it was called the Bur lington bed.44

Glacial drift and the deposits of Lake Souris cover practically all of the part of the region north and west of Minot. The Burlington bed, however, crops out intermittently beginning at a point 3 miles west of Minot and extending northwestward along the valleys of the Souris. River and the Riviere des Lacs to the northern border of the region. Its outcrops are from 5 to 40 feet above the alluvial floors of these- valleys, but between Foxholm and Carpio the coal bed dips a few feet- below the level of the alluvium. Northwest from Burlington there- are no outcrops of this coal bed on the northeast side of the river, but. mine openings expose the coal in the southwest corner of sec. 15,. T. 157 N., R. 85 W., and at two localities in the SW% sec. 1, T. 156 N.,. R. 85 W. Few wells have been drilled deep enough to encounter the- horizon of the Burlington bed in the northwest corner of the region, and no idea of its extent can be ascertained from the wells. To judge from its lateral extent along the outcrop, however, it probably ex tends 10 miles southwest of Burlington under cover of 200 to 500 feet. According to the writer's interpretation of the log of the Des Lacs- Western Oil Co.'s well near Lonetree the. altitude of the base of th& Fort Union hi that well is about 1,420 feet and the Burlington bed is. about 200 feet higher.

Measured sections of the Burlington bed are shown in figure 15. It is 2% to 3 feet thick in the vicinity of Carpio. At Foxholm there are two benches, an upper bench 4 feet 8 inches thick and a lower bench. 6 inches thick separated by 10 inches of clay. From Lloyd Coulee southeastward thro.ugh Burlington it averages about 9 feet in thick ness, but it thins to 5 feet 10 inches at locality 16, in the South Branch, of Gassman Coulee. The thickest observed section of the Burlington bed is at locality 10, in the NW# sec. 3, T. 155 N., R. 84 W., where there is an upper bench 9 feet 4 inches thick and a lower bench 1 foot 6 inches thick, separated by a clay parting 2 niches thick. In the vicinity of Burlington, where the coal is thick, it characteristically has a clay parting about 1% feet above the base of the coal. Elsewhere the partings are more irregular.

« Wood, L. H., Preliminary report on Ward County and adjacent territory with special reference to the lignite: North Dakota Geol. Survey 2d Bienn. Rep., pp. 84-146,1902.

« Leonard, A. O., and others, The lignite deposits of North Dakota: North Dakota Qeol. Survey Bull. 4, pp. 146-153,1925.


LOCAL BED ABOUT 75 FEET ABOVE BURLINGTON BED

A local bed 1,685 feet above sea level and about 75 feet above the Burlington bed crops out at an abandoned strip mine in the NE X sec. 35, T. 155 N., R. 84 W. The base of the coal is below water, and the top of the coal bed has been eroded, but the incomplete section

I 2 3.Ft. in. IjggJFt. in. jigl Ft. in.

BURLINGTON BED 4 5 6

JFt. in. |__| Ft. in. gsgl

2 8

10

2 5 2 8 2 9

6

U 7

I Ft. in.

2 6

4 8

10

12 6

3 10

I 6

3 6

I I 12 13 14J Ft. - in. \s---j Ft. in.

15

16

|6 67 5 7 4 4 8

9 4

JFt. in.

2 5 17

..Ft. in,

6

2

I 6

2

|4 6

18

I 6

2

I 6

2

1.1 6

EXPLANATION

Coal Bony

coalShale Clay Sandy shale

FIGURE 15. Sections of the Burlington coal bed.

2

U 4

measured 3 feet 10 inches. No other outcrops of this coal were found, but a coal was encountered in several wells near this horizon south eastward as far as sec. 20, T. 154 N., R. 83 W., at an altitude of 1,655 to 1,686 feet.

LOCAL BED 23 FEET BELOW WOLF CREEK BED

The lowest coal bed found along the Missouri River crops out at water level at locality 103, near the center of sec. 27, T. 147 N.,


R. 84 W. This bed is 23 feet below the Wolf Creek bed and about 60 feet above the base of the Fort Union formation. This interpre tation does not indicate, however, that this local bed is lower than the Burlington bed, because according to the writer's interpretation the base of the Fort Union transgresses downward about 200 feet from north to south across the Minot region. Only 2 feet of the top part of this bed was expossd above water level, and this part is ex posed only during low-water stages of the Missouri River. This is probably the same coal that is mined on the west bank of the Mis souri River 2 miles south of the Minot region, where it is 7 to 8M feet thick.45

WOLF CREEK BED

The Wolf Creek coal bed, about 80 feet above the base of the Fort Union formation, crops out along the base of the steep escarpment on the east side of the Missouri River through sees. 15, 22, 27, 33, and 34,

39 41\ Ft. in. l^gFt in. !-==-=) Ft.

|4 6

WOLF CREEK BED 94 99 100

Ft. in.

101 106j Ft. in. EFt. in.

2 '0

|4 5

4 2

EXPLANATION

Coal

mBony coal

Shale

Clay

Sandy shale

FIGURE 16. Sections of the Wolf Creek coal bed.

T. 147 N., R. 84 W. It is here named from its exposures along the mouth of Wolf Creek. North and south of that vicinity and on the west side of the Missouri River it is concealed by terrace gravel. This bed was described by L. P. Dove.46 Measured sections (see fig. 16) show a lower bench ranging from 3 feet at locality 99 to 6 feet at local ity 94 and an upper bench ranging from 1 foot 7 inches at locality 99 to 3 feet at locality 100, with the clay parting between the benches only 5 inches thick at locality 106 and 5 feet at locality 94.

A coal bed that is probably the Wolf Creek bed crops out along the Missouri River in T. 147 N., R. 86 W. It is 4 feet 6 inches thick at locality 39 and 4 feet 4 inches thick at locality 41. This coal bed is bed 1-A of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.47

« Leonard, A. 0., and others, The lignite deposits of North Dakota: North Dakota Geol. Survey Bull. 4,p. 122, 1925.

«Idem, pp. 121-122.« Pishel, M. A., Lignite in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota, north of Missouri

River: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 471, pp. 179-180, 1912.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 906 PLATE 13

A. COTEAU COAL BED IN STRIP PIT OF TRUAX-TRAER LIGNITE COAL CO. IN SEC. 35,T. 152 N., R. 81 W.

Coal bed IB 14 feet thick; cover, 30 feet. Courtesy of Truax-Traer Lignite Coal Co.

B. COTEAU COAL BED OVERLAIN BY PLEISTOCENE GRAVEL AT REED MINE IN SW)4SEC. 27, T. 153 N., R. 82 W.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 906 PLATS 14

-COTEAU BED-,19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 3

Ft. in.

1

8 5

in. j=|Ft. in. gg^Ft. in. WM Ft in. [£|

11 Ml 3

I 10

!6 6

9 6+

5 6

I Ft. in. E£3Ft. BSSII Ft. in. 1^ Ft. in. (M^Ft. in..

9 6 H9 6

113 10

3 9

5 4

32 33 34 35 36 37Ft. in. ESidFt. in. &S3 Ft. in. __ Ft. in. __ Ft. in. __ Ft.

13 9

2+

EXPLANATION

Coal Bony coal Shale Sandstone Clay Sandy clay Gravel

SECTIONS OF Till-: COTEAU COAL BED.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 906 PLATE 15

GARRISON CREEK BED

38 40 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 5O 51 52 53 54 55 56 62 69 70 71j^JFt. in. gSSj Ft. in. j^g Ft. pS-j Ft. in. pggj Ft. in. ^gj Ft. in. fc=g Ft. in. ^^ Ft ^^ Ft. HH~< Ft. __ Ft. feS-'jFt. in. Ft. Ft. ^|Ft. laasj Ft. __ Ft. in. IjgFt. in. E-.V-'-J Ft. in. ^_ Ft.

2

3 6

2 3

77 78 79 80

I

82 83 84 85Ft. in. g^JFt. in. ^JFt. in. Ft.

5 106 6 6 3

2 6

[Ft. in.

1 10

2 3|Ft. in. feagFt. in. Ft.

5 10 5 6

6 27 6

3 6 3 10

87 88 89 90 91 92 93|=gFt. fc^ Ft. in."

6 6

95 96in. ___Ft.

4 10

90 98 102 104 105 107 108 109JFt. in. teg Ft. in. __Ft. in. .__Ft. in. N=5JFt j n . ^3 Ft. in. i=jFt. in. l?-=g)Ft.

HO

4 6

26 2 6 2 6

I 10

3 2

9

I 10

2 6

l 112 113 114 115 116

5 6

1^ Ft. in. N^i Ft. in.

3 10

2 6

3 2

3 6

120

2 5

I 2

6

3 5

121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 "130 131JFt. in. ^=iFt. in. ^^ Ft. in. P~lFt. in. ^^ Ft. in. |=jFt. in ^^ Ft. in. ^=iFt. g^Ft. in. g^Ft. in. Ft in.

^ 2

2 5

2 II

I 4-

2 10

2 10 2 8

3 I

4 3

3 5

5 4

2 5

4 8+

2 6+

EXPLANATION

Coal Bonycoal Bone' Carbonaceous Shale : shale

Sandy shale Sandstone Clayi Gravel Alluvium

SECTIONS OF THE GARRISON CREEK COAL BED.

GEOLOGY AND COAL, MINOT REGION, N. DAK. - 71

The Wolf Creek coal bed is found at 1,744 to 1,766 feet above sea level in..eight.wells^as,far north as sec. 1, T. 148 N., R. 83 W., and as far east as sec. 4, T. 147 N., R. 81 W., under cover of about 200 feet. Beyond these points wells do not reach the horizon of this bed, and it may extend many miles farther. ;

COTEAU BED

The Coteau bed crops out intermittently for a distance of about 35 miles from the western part of T. 153 N., R. 82 W., to the north western part of T. 150 N., R. 87 W. It is exposed only where stream, erosion has removed the covering of glacial drift and lake sediments,.. This bed was briefly described by Wood 48 and later described andl named by Leonard.

Northwest of the Truax-Traer mine, in the southern part of T. 152: N., R, 81 W., the Coteau bed crops out in nearly every stream at- altitudes of 1,830 to 1,840 feet above sea level. (See pi. 13, A and B.J' At the northwestern outcrops of this bed in T. 153 N., R. 82. W.,, it- is 250 to 270 feet above the horizon of the Burlington bed. Stefccefreasfc of the Truax-Traer mine, in the northeastern part of T. 151 N.,, R- 81 W., a coal bed was found at two localities at 1,910 feet above se& level. This coal was mapped for about 3 miles, and although no evidence was found indicating appreciable dips, it probably represents the Coteau bed. There are no outcrops between these localities and sec. 32, T. 151 N., R. 79 W., where the Coteau bed crops out at 1,850 feet above sea level. From that locality it can be traced southeast^ ward to the east side of Dogden Butte.

The thickness of the Coteau bed is shown by graphic sections in plate 14. Northwest from the Truax-Traer camp it has an average thickness of about 13 feet 6 inches; at most localities the coal is clean and free from partings, but at localities 29 and 30 it has an 8-inch> parting 9% feet below the top of the bed. The bed at an altitude of 1,910 feet southeast of the Truax-Traer mine and probably equivalent to the Coteau bed was measured only at locality 31, where 11 feet of coal, with the base concealed, is exposed in an abandoned mine. The coal was reported to have an equal thickness 1 mile northwest of locality 31. In the vicinity of Kongsberg and Dogden Butte the Coteau bed is much thinner than it is to the northwest; the thickness ranges from a maximum of 5 feet at localities 36 and 37 to a minimum; of 3 feet 9 inches at locality 34.

The Coteau 49 bed is thought to underlie the country as far- south) as Strawberry Lake and Benedict and west to and including T.. 151 N.r

« Wood, L. H., Preliminary report on Ward County and adjacent Territory with special reference to th» lignite: North Dakota Geol. Survey 2d Bienn. Kept., pp. 132-134,1901-1902.

. « Leonard, A. O., and others, The lignite deposits of North Dakota: North Dakota Qeol.. Survey. Bull!. 4,. pp. 148-153,1925.

66910 39 3 ' ..


R. 83 W. The well information supplying the data for this area is meager, and the correlation of the coals in the wells is somewhat 'doubtful. The Coteau bed is found at altitudes of 1,827 to 1,870 feet above sea level in this area and is tentatively correlated with the Gar rison Creek bed,: which is widespread in the area to the southwest.

GARRISON CREEK BED

The Garrison Creek bed, here named from its exposures along Garrison Creek, crops out extensively along both sides of the Missouri River and its tributaries in the southwestern part of the Minot region. The Garrison Creek bed is bed 2 of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation,50 where it is known to extend westward to the vicinity of Elbo Woods, 24 miles west of the Minot region. The occurrence of this bed in the vicinity of Garrison 51 has been briefly described.

The coal crops out at 1,780 to 1,830 feet above sea level in the western part of the Minot region on both sides of the Missouri River and from 1,850 to 1,880 feet above sea level in the eastern part of its outcrop. In the western part of the region the Garrison Creek bed is generally less than 5 feet thick, although measured sections show 6 feet of coal at localities 53 and 55, in sec. 31, T. 148 N., R. 86 W., and sec. 24, T. 148 N., R. 87 W. (pi. 15). The coal bed is 10 feet thick at locality 81, in sec. 5 ; T. 148 N., R. 85 W.; it averages 6 feet east of this point. Along Wolf Creek and the Missouri River this bed ranges in thickness from 2>2 feet at locality 105 to 7% feet in two benches at localities 96 and 97. South of the Missouri River it is generally present in two or three benches. The maximum measured thickness of the lower bench is 5 feet 6 inches at locality 111 and 5 feet 4 inches at locality 127, and that of the upper bench is 4 feet 3 inches at locality 126 and 4 feet at locality 110.

From a study of the drilled wells the Garrison Creek bed can be followed along the southern margin of the region to the eastern border at 1,820 to 1,860 feet above sea level. About 5 miles east of Garrison this bed has an altitude of 1,875 feet in the mines and wells. It can be followed fairly consistently northeastward to Benedict at altitudes of 1,840 to 1,885 feet, although the bed at 1,800 to 1,820 feet at the head of Snake Creek may be the Garrison Creek bed also. This bed is encountered as far west as the East Branch of Douglas Creek, but its surface outcrop can be followed northward along Douglas Creek. Northwest from Garrison the horizon of the Garrison Creek bed is far below most of the wells, although it may be represented by the 4-foot bed at 1,859 feet above sea level in the well at Douglas and the 6-foot bed at an altitude of 1,826 feet in the well at Ryder.

so-pishel, M. A., Lignite in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota, north of Missouri River: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 471, p. 180,1912.

8 1 Leonard, A. Q., and others, The lignite deposits of North Dakota: North Dakota Geol. Survey Bull. 4, pp. 122-123, 1925.

GEOLOGY. AND COAL, MHsTOT REGION, N. DAK. 73

MINTER BED

The Minter coal bed, here named from its exposure at the Minter mine, in sec. 12, T. 149 N., R. 85 W., crops out intermittently along .Douglas Creek. It is bed 3 of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation 52 and lies 60 to 70 feet above the Garrison Creek bed. Although this bed is variable it averages 5 feet in thickness over a considerable extent of its outcrop. Measured sections of this bed are shown in figure 17. The variability can be noted by comparing the section .measured by the writer in 1934 at locality 75 with the following sec tion measured by Dove in the mine at the same locality a few years earlier. 53

Section of Minter coal bed at locality 75Feet Inches

Glacial gravel.________________________________________ 5Clay, blue.___.._._._. .......__.._..._......_.._.__.. 1 3Lignite...... ___________________________________________ 6 6Clay seam, not persistent____-_____-_______.____________ 1Lignite, good_____._____.-__-_____:__ ___________-_.____ 1 6Clay, blue, reported.

The Minter bed is found in many wells in T. 149 N., R. 84 W., at 1,940 to 1,982 feet above sea level. Coal is found at this horizon in two, wells northeast of Benedict and in four wells in T. 152 N., R. 84 W. Coal is also found at this horizon along the western margin of the Minot region northward from the vicinity of Makoti to T. 155 .N., R. 87 W..

COAL, BEDS IN THE COVERED PORTION OF THE REGION

The coal beds in the Fort Union formation are good aquifers, and :many of the wells in the region obtain water from them. In this investigation about 90 percent of the farms were visited in an attempt to obtain information about the coal beds encountered in drilling their wells. On the several hundred farms visited, definite informa tion was obtained at about 35!0 wells. Altitudes of the wells were determined by aneroid barometers in that part of the country not covered by topographic maps.

The wells that are known to have encountered coal are plotted on the geologic map (pi. 11), with the surface altitude of the well and the altitude of the top of any coal found in the well. The altitude of each coal bed is followed by a dash and the thickness of the coal bed, if known, and preceded by a letter symbol indicating the bed if it can be correlated.

About 50 feet above the Minter bed is the C bed, unknown from surface outcrops but found in the vicinity of Douglas in several wells

52 Pishel, M. A., Lignite in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota, north of tho Missouri River: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 471, p. 181, 1912.

63 Leonard, A. 0., and others. The lignite deposits of North Dakota: North Dakota Geol. Survey Bull. 4, ;p. 24, 1925.


at 1,980 to 2,010 feet above sea level. North of Max this bed is found at 2,000 to 2,015 feet; near Ryder at 2,010 to 2,030 feet; and again near Makoti at 1,980 to 1,990 feet. Above the C bed and 90 to 100 feet above the Minter bed, extending southeast from Douglas to the border of the field, is the B bed, at 2,040 to 2,060 feet above sea level. This bed also extends northwest from Douglas to Rice

57 58 59.Ft __Ft. in. Js=iFt.

I I 6

MINTER BED60 63 64

(Ft. in.

I65

in. __ Ft.

3 4

67 75

3 4

Ft.

1

1

3

in.6666

3

»

3

EXPLANATION

Coal1

§|Bony coal

Carbonaceous shale

HShafe

6 t

Clay

Gravel!

FIGURE 17. Sections of the Minter coal beet.

Lake at similar altitudes. Along the western border of the field south from Ryder are a few wells that encounter a higher coal, the A bed at 2,100 to 2,125 feet above sea level. This is the highest bed found in this region and is about 150 feet above the Minter bed.

Along the north border of the field between the Altamont moraine and the Riviere des Lacs, the deep wells are more closely spaced than in the morainal area, but many of these wells are so old that the records have been lost and the data on them are dependent entirely

GEOLOGY AND COAL, MINOT KEGION, N. DAK. 75

on the memory of the owners. There is much greater difficulty in correlating the coal in these wells than elsewhere in the area. Northeast of Berthold coal is found in two wells at 1,670 and 1,698 feet above sea level and in four others at 1,765 to 1,790 feet above sea level. Northwest of Berthold a coal is found in several of the wells at 1,910 to 1,955 feet above sea level, that may represent the Minter coal bed found a few miles to the south at 1,945 to 1,985 feet. The lower altitude of the coal near Berthold may be a result of the small downwarp noted in the surface outcrops between Carpio and Foxholm. Coals are present at other horizons in the vicinity of Berthold, but they do not seem to be persistent. South of Lonetree, however, coal is found at 1,850 to 1,885 feet above sea level, extending about 15 miles to the southeast.

CHARACTER OF COAL,

Physical properties. The coal in the Fort Union formation in the Minot region is of lignitic rank. It is a tough brown fibrous coal which contains many carbonized plant remains. The coal does not break reladily, although it splits easily along the bedding. On ex posure to the air it slacks rapidly. Carbonized logs, which do not appreciably affect the quality of the coal, are found at many places in the field. Many silicified logs are found at the top of the Garrison Creek coal bed, and occasionally .a log is found carbonized at one end and silicified at the other end.

Chemical properties. Three sampl.es of coal were collected by the writer in the Minot region and were analyzed by the United States Bureau of Mines. The analyses are given in the following table, together with analyses of three samples previously collected from this region and of two coals from other areas for comparison. The an alyses are presented in three forms A, as received; C, moisture-free; D, moisture- and ash-free.

Ana

lyse

s of

coa

l fro

m M

inot

reg

ion

and

othe

r ar

eas

in N

orth

Dak

ota

and

Mon

tana

Loc

atio

n

Zoo

k m

ine,

Gar

riso

n, N

. D

ak.,

NE

J4 s

ec.

17,

T.

148

N.,

R.

48 W

.

Ros

egle

n C

ity C

oal

Co.

, R

oseg

len,

N.

Dak

..

Qua

lity

Lig

nite

Co.

, B

urli

ngto

n, N

. D

ak.,

sec.

2, T

. 15

5 N

., R

84

W.

Ste

ven

Bro

s. C

oal

Co.

, G

arri

son,

N.

Dak

., se

c. 1

9, T

. 14

8 N

., R

. 84

W.

Con

on m

ine,

Bur

ling

ton,

N.

Dak

., se

c. 1

2,

T.

148

N.

K.

84 W

.

Tru

ax-T

raer

Coa

l C

o.,

Vel

va,

N.

Dak

., se

c.

27,

T.

152

N.,

R.8

1 W

.

Kni

fe R

iver

Coa

l M

in.

Co.

, B

eula

h,

N.

Dak

.

No

rthw

este

rn

Impro

vem

ent

Co.

, C

ol-

stri

p, M

ont.

Lab

orat

ory

No.

Com

posi

te,

A99

252

to

A99

255.

Com

posi

te,

A99

771

to

A99

774.

Com

posi

te,

A 9

9902

to

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MINING

Although the early history of mining in the Minot region is not readily traceable, there were many active mines at the beginning of the twentieth century,64 and the history of mining undoubtedly ex tends back more than 60 years. Probably the first mine opened by white men was the mine on the Garrison Creek bed in the SW% sec. 35, T. 148 N., R. 85 W., 55 that was worked by the men stationed at old Fort Stephenson, in sec. 10, T. 147 N., R. 85 W. Coal was mined about 2 miles south of Burlington at the old Colton mine in the 1880's. With the completion of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway from Minot to Great Falls, Mont., in 1887, a new demand for coal was created by the railway and by the new settlers that came in with its completion. From that time until after the World War the area around Burlington was the largest producer in the Minot region. In 1928 the Truax-Traer Co. opened a strip pit in sec. 26, T. 152 N., R. 81 E., and built a railroad connecting with the "Soo" Line, 5 miles to the northeast. Since that time the Velva district, largely from this one mine, has produced annually about 275,000 tons, about 15 percent of the total State production. According to the report of the State mining inspector for 1933, 56 there were 9 active mines in the district around Velva, 17 around Burlington, and 6 around Garrison. That report does not include mention of the many small local mines nor the large number of abandoned and idle openings. The following table, compiled from the annual report of the inspector, lists the pro duction of coal in the Minot region since 1920.

Coal produced in North Dakota and in Minot region, since 1920, by districts, in tons

Year

1920.. ...................................1921.....................................1922......................................1923.. ...................................1924.....................................1925......................................1926... ................................ ..1927... ..................................1928.....................................1929......................................1930.....................................1931..... ...-......._.....,........._....1932.....................................1933.....................................

State pro duction

878, 969895, 715

1, 057, 8231, 435, 6051, 029, 4491, 357, 4081, 385, 3621, 529, 1541, 783, 6241, 902, 5931, 849, 1441, 552, 2421, 743, 0531, 872, 381

Burlington district

65, 90635, 40236, 02523,27740, 44243, 91029, 51828, 36827, 48017, 76729, 86641, 08851, 34162, 050

Velva dis trict

9,6454,1986,0047,3692,892

13, 21315, 22115, 873

246, 025298, 216345, 628274, 676275, 309284, 642

Garrison district

20, 16921,01960, 145

127, 62440, 17583,52473, 99598,86869, 01879, 22085, 83381, 30881, 62691..255

Total Minot region

95, 72060,619

102, 174158, 27083, 509

140, 647118, 734143, 109342, 523395, 203461, 327397, 072408, 276437, 947

The mines of the Minot region may be grouped into three classes open strip pits, entries or inclined shafts, and vertical shafts. The

* Wilder, F. A., and Wood, E. H., Report on lignite, by counties: North Dakota Qeol. Survey 2d Bienn. Kept., pp. 56, 162, 1902.

45 Wilder, F. A., The lignite of North Dakota and its relation to irrigation: U. S. Oeol. Survey Water Supply Paper 117, p. 34, 1905.

»° Olson, O. J., North Dakota Coal Mine Insp. Dept. 15th Ann. Kept., 1933.

78 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, .193 8-3 9

Burlington bed, in the region northwest of Minot, is mined almost exclusively in (entries or inclined shafts, and the coal is brought to the surface in the valley, where it is near the railroad for shipping or near the good highways for trucking. A few vertical-shaft mines have been opened .'from the top when the producers wanted to tap the vein farther from its outcrop. The Wolf Creek bed is mined solely by entry mines, because the cover is 200 feet or more; the coal is hauled by trucks. The largest mine on the Coteau bed is a strip mine of the Truax-Traex Co, (see pi. 13, 5), which loads on a spur line of the railroad, 'but there are numerous other strip mines and entry mines along the (coulees of the region which supply coal for transportation by trucks. The Garrison Creek bed is mined in strip pits along Garrison Creek, and the coal is loaded directly on spur lines of the railroad. Elsewhere the Garrison Creek bed is mined either in small strip pits along the outcrop or by slope entries where the cover ranges from 30 to 60 feet. The only large producing mine in the Minter bed is the Minter mine, a strip pit in sec. 14, T. 149 N., R. 85 W., although there are local strip pits elsewhere along the crop line of this bed.

In the Minot region the greatest hindrance to mining is the presence <©'f water in the coal beds. Throughout most of the region where the coal is under considerable cover and is very far removed from the outcrop and from natural drainage lines, it usually carries water in appreciable quantities; consequently any shaft mining must have Tieavy pumping equipment. Such was the experience of two shafts that were sunk, one at Ruso and the other 2 miles northwest of Des Lacs, along the Great Northern Railway. In addition, the several hundred wells that have been drilled in this region show the presence of water in the coal beds.

Practically all the mining in this region has been done on or near the -outcrop line of the coal, because the coal is exposed at the surface and can be easily prospected and economically mined on a small scale. lUntil coal is sufficiently valuable to overcome the heavy expense of the pumping of water, future mining is likely to be continued along the crop line, where there is good natural drainage. There are, liowever, large quantities of coal available by the present methods of mining. The entire area adjacent to the crop line of the Coteau bed from the central part of T. 153 N., R. 82 W., southwest to Pogden Butte, when sufficiently prospected, may disclose large stripping areas. Operations in these areas would necessitate the extension of a railroad. It may not be feasible to attempt strip mining of some areas along the coulees that have been extensively mined by under ground methods. Of course, any area should be adequately tested for thickness of cover and extent and thickness of the coal before mining operations are begun.

GEOLOGY AND COAL, MINOT REGION, IT, DAK.

There are numerous areas near the railway in the southwestern part of the region where stripping would be profitable. There remain considerable reserves along Garrison Creek, but these are being mined at the present tune. Prospecting in the area 4 miles south of Garrison and 4 to 7 miles east of Garrison and along Wolf Creek for 3 or 4 miles west and northwest of Coleharbor would probably show areas that were suitable for stripping. In addition, the northwestern part of T. 149 N., R. 84 W., and the northeastern part of T. 149 N., R. 85 W., probably have areas underlain by the Minter bed that would justify a spur line of the railway and stripping. In parts of all these areas lignite of good quality and 5 to 14 feet thick may be expected under cover of less than 50 feet.

ESTIMATE OF RESERVES

The meager exposures of coal and the consequent meager knowledge of the extent and variation hi thickness of the coal beds preclude an accurate estunate of the coal reserves in the Minot region. Further more, much of the district is undoubtedly underlain by coal beds in rocks older than any~that crop out, but there are few available data concerning those beds, and no estimate can be made of the amount of coal that they contain. In computing the tonnage estimates presented in the following table well-log data were used to supplement information obtained at the outcrop, but in some parts of the region where the coal beds do not crop out and no information could be obtained from wells it was necessary to assume an arbitrary boundary for the limit of coal beds.

Estimated reserves in the principal coal beds in the Minot region

Wolf Creek bed.......... ......... _......-...-... ..........

Bbed.......~ ... .. . . ... .. -.'.

Total............ .......................................

Area (square miles)

351#193337919^969200

Average thickness

(feet)

64J-69455

Reserves (million tons)

2,4291,0003,4944,4375,5811,152

18,094

OIL AND GAS

The Fort Union rocks, of Eocene age, that crop out in the Minot region and the underlying Lance formation, of Upper Cretaceous age, which together have a maximum thickness of about 1,000 feet, have nowhere been found to contain commerical quantities of oil or gas. The underlying Cretaceous rocks that yield oil and gas at many

80 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 19'3'8:-3'9>

localities in Montana 57 and Wyoming 58 are more than 3,.OOQ feet thick in the Minot region and are petroliferous in the well of the Des Lacs Western Oil Co., near Lonetree. Very little is known concerning the extent or possible petroliferous character of the older formations in this part of North Dakota.

The Fort Union and Cretaceous rocks and possibly the older forma tions are practically flat-lying in the Minot region, and structural features that usually control the accumulation of oil or gas in quan tities of commercial importance are absent. Under such structural conditions there is little likelihood of notable accumulations of oil or gas.

The Des Lacs Western Oil Co. drilled a well in the SW% sec. 4,. T. 155 N., R. 85 W., to a depth of 3,980 feet (p. 13). The well penetrated about 900 feet of Lance and Fort Union rocks and about 3,100 feet of older Cretaceous rocks. Shows of oil and gas were reported from Cretaceous rocks at depths of 900-920, 1,300-1,340,. 1,900-1,905, 2,300-2,310, and 3,040-3,043 feet. About 2 miles, southeast of the southeast corner of the Minot region a well has been drilled by local residents in the SE}£ sec. 3, T. 141 N,, R. 81 W. This well is reported to be about 1,600 feet deep and to have en countered a show of oil; the bottom of the well is probably in the Pierre shale, of Upper Cretaceous age.

SALT DEPOSITS

Although no investigation was made of the salt deposits in the lakes of the Minot region, a recent report on the salt deposits in the northwestern part of North Dakota 59 shows that natural deposits of sodium sulphate (Glauber salt) are not uncommon in the Pleisto cene lakes of North Dakota. The report cited describes deposits of sodium sulphate about 10 miles west of the Minot region. It is- possible that some of the intermittent lake beds in the northeastern and central parts of the Minot area may contain sodium sulphate deposits of commercial rank.

ARTESIAN WATER

In an area extending southeastward from Berth©ld to the eastern, part of T. 154 N., R. 83 W., about 8 miles south of Minot, and ranging- in width from about 1 mile at each end to aboAit 3 miles near Des

47 Collier, A. J., The Kevin-Sunburst oil field and other possibilities of oil and gas in the-Sweetgrass arch. Mont.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 812, pp. 87-189,1929. Reeves, Frank,. Thrust faulting and oil possibilities; in the plains adjacent to the Highwood Mountains, Mont.: U. S, Geol. Survey Bull. 806,.pp.. 185-190,1928..

"Hewett, D. F., Geology and oil and coal resources of the Oregon Basin, Meeteetse* and Grass Creek. Basin quadrangles, Wyoming: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 145, pp. 71-91, 1926. Thorn. W. T., Jr.,. and Spieker, W. M., The significance of geologic conditions in Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3, Wyomingr U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 163, pp. 20-37,1931.

» Lavine, Irvin, and Feinstein, Herman, Natural Deposits of Sodium Sulfate in North Dakota: Am. Inst. Min. Met. Eng. Contr. 97, 1936.


Lacs, most drilled wells obtain flowing water in coal beds or sand stone lenses of the Fort Union formation at depths of 100 to 550 feet. The outline of this area, described as the Des Lacs artesian area by Simpson,60 is. shown approximately on plate 11 by the dis tribution of the flowing wells. Although not all wells in this artesian area encounter flowing water, the water in most of the wells is under considerable pressure; the area in which the water is under some pres sure usually extends 3 miles beyond the limits of the area in which flowing wells are obtained.

Simpson describes this type of artesian area, where the water comes from flat-lying beds in front of the terminal moraine, as the "escarpment type" of artesian system and says that

The water, which rises in wells to the surface in small weak flows, seems to derive its hydrostatic pressure more from the higher ground-water level beneath the'escarpment, which causes a slow'general downward percolation of the water, than from the elevation of water in the bed that is tapped. 61

The flow of water in this area ranges from a few gallons an hour to 10 gallons a minute.

Artesian flow has also been obtained in a well in the SE% sec. 15, T. 151 N., R. 80 W.; water flows from a depth of 126 feet. Neigh boring wells have water standing only a few feet below the surface.

A small area in the southeastern part of T. 150 N., R. 84 W., and the southwestern part of T. 150 N., R. 83 W., and the adjacent parts of the townships on the south has yielded flowing water at depths of 60 to 125 feet, with flows strong enough to meet all domestic needs.

Analyses of waters from this part of North Dakota 62 show that the water from the Fort Union formation has a hardness generally be tween 100 :: and' 500 parts per million and dissolved solids about 2,000 parts per million. Practically all the artesian water of this region is suitable for domestic use.

' Simpson, H. E., Geology and ground-water resources of North Dakota: U. S. Qeol. Survey Water- Supply Paper 598, pp. 250-262, 1929.

M Simpson, H. E., op. cit., p. 51. «» Simpson, H. E., op. cit., pp. 272-307.

INDEX

PageA coal bed, distribution of...._....._. 74, pi. 11Abstract............................ ...... 43-44Accessibility of the region. . .. 53-54 Acknowledgments..... ..... .......... 48Agasslz, Lake/forming of____.____... 66 Alden,'W. C., quoted.. ...... .. 59,62,64Altamont moraine, character and thickness of. 58,64Artesian area, character and extent of.. 80-81, pi. 11

water from, character of... .. . 81

B coal bed, distribution of.... ..... . 74, pi. 11estimated reserves in...___....___ 79

Beaches, character and distribution of._ 64-65,67 Bentley Lake spillway, history of. ___.... 66-67Benton shale, character and thickness of.__ 55 Burlington coal bed, downwarp in....._._ 61

estimated reserves in:........ 79local bed above, outcrop of......_.. 69, pi. 11method of mining....__...__...._ 77-78thickness and distribution of. ... 68-69, pi. 11

Burlington district, production from____ 77

C coal bed, distribution of.______ 73-74, pi. 11 Cannonball member, thickness and distribu

tion of.______._______ 56 Central Lowland province, features of____ 61,63 Climate.... . . . . 51-52Coal, chemical analyses of. ___... _____ 75-76

physical properties of.__.._._.___ 75 production of______.________.. 77 reserves of, estimates of...________ 79

Coal beds, general features of... 67-68, pis. 11,14-15 in Fort Union formation......____... 57-58

Colton mine, history of.__...._____... 77Conon mine, coal fron^,analyses of.... .... 76Coteau coal bed, correlation.of.....___.. 60,72

displacement on ..... . . 61estimated reserves in.._______... 79 method of mining... _._ * _.......... 78thickness and distribution of. 71-72, pis. 11,13-14

Coteau du Missouri, features of.... _____ 62Cretaceous rocks, oil and gas in, shows of._. 79-80

structure of..._______________ 80Cretaceous system, formations of.____... 55

Des Lacs Western Oil Co., well of............ 80well of, log of.... ... 55,56,67,68

Douglas Creek, Middle Fork of, syncline near. 60-61 Drainage....._._._.... . ... 51

present pattern of, age of- 62-64, pi. 12

PageField work._____._______..._.. 46 Fort Union formation, character and thickness

of............... .............. 56coal beds of... . .. 67-75, pis. 11,13-16 coal from, rank of...__________ 75 section of._________________ 57-58 structure of.._______________ 80 water from, character of...__.......... 81

Fox Hills sandstone, character and thickness of. 55

Garrison Creek coal bed, correlation of____ 60 estimated reserves in..._________ 79 method of mining.....__________ 78 relations of.________________ 57 silicifled logs in______________ 75 thickness and distribution of..__ 72, pis. 11,15

Garrison district, production from __ __ __ 77Gas. See-Oil and gas;Geography........._ ......_.. 48-54, pis. 11,12Geomorphology, general features of..._.... 61-67,

pis. 11,12Glacial drift, character, age, and distribution

Of .. 58-59, 64-67, pis. 11,13

Kansas stage of glaciation, consequences of__ 62Knife River Coal Min. Co., coal of, analyses of. 76Krueger Lake spillway, history of.._____ 66

Lakes. See names of lakes.Lance formation, character and thickness of 55

.coal in___________________ 67 distribution, relations, andageof...__.. 56-57

Location and extent of region . .. 44-45Ludlow member, equivalent of__.....___ 56

Mines, Bureau of, analyses by______... 769 Mining, history and future of___....___ 77-79Minter coal bed, estimated reserves in__.. 79

method of mining............. ........ 78possible equivalents of.._.__...... 75, pi! 11relations of...-. 58 sections of....__________..__ 73-74thickness acd distribution of..._____ 73

Missouri Plateau, features of.__-_____ 61-62

Nebraskan stage of glaciation, consequences of. 62 Niobrara formation, character and thickness of- 55 Northwestern Improvement Co., coal of, anal

yses of.... 76

Oil and gas, shows of. 79

83

84 INDEX

Pierre shale, character and thickness of. oil and gas in, shows of. ............

Pleistocene series, deposits of.. Population.--.-.__-----------__..

Page 55 80 58 53

Pre-Lance formation, features of-------------- 54-55Previous investigations....................... 46-48

Quality Lignite Co., coal of, analyses of...... 76 Quaternary system, deposits of. ..'............ 58-60

.Recent series, deposits of.....--. ---..---....- 59-60Reserves of coal, estimates of.----.-.--------- 79IRose-rlen City Coal Co., coal of, analyses of... 76

JRyder, Lake, history of.............._-..-. 64-65

Salt, possible deposits of......_.._.___ 80 Simpson, H. E., quoted_. ___.. __. __ 81 'Souris, Lake, history of_---.-..-..--...-_. 65-67 iSouris escarpment, location of.._._.-... 61-63 Steven Bros. Coal Co., coal of, analyses of.-.. 76 Stratigraphy, general features of.__-.-.--.. 54

Page Structure, general features of...--.---..---.-. 60-61

Terraces, character and age of............. 59-60,64Tertiary system, formation of--..--.--.-.-..-. 57-58 Topography-..-.-..--.-..-----.-.-...-. 48-50, pi. 11Transportation............................... 53-54Truax-Traer Lignite Coal Co., coal of, analyses

of. . - - 76 strip pit of......._..__. . -._ 78, pi. 13

history of.-.--------.-----. --------- 77

Vegetation.....................Velva district, production from.

Water supply......_____...__...__.... SIWintering River spillway, history of.___... 60 Wisconsin stage of glaciation, history of....... 62-67Wolf Creek coal bed, estimated reserves in... 79

local bed below, outcrop of_._. 69-70, pi. 11 method of mining.._-.. _ .- 78relations of..---------............_..-.. 58thickness and distribution of..._ 70-71,pi. 11

Zook mine, coal from, analyses of-- . ------ 76-

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